al-Ahli Arab Hospital

{{Infobox hospital

| name = Al-Ahli Arab Hospital

| org/group = Anglican Diocese of Jerusalem

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| location = Gaza City

| region = Gaza Strip

| country = Palestine

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| funding = Nonprofit

| type = General

| religious_affiliation = Anglican

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| beds = 80{{Cite web |title=Al-Ahli Hospital, Gaza |url=https://j-diocese.org/wordpress/healthcare-3/ |access-date=17 October 2023 |website=Diocese of Jerusalem |language=en-US}}

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| opened = 1882

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Al-Ahli Arab Baptist Hospital ({{langx|ar| المستشفى الأهلي العربي المعمداني|lit=The Arab Baptist National Hospital}}{{Cite web |date=21 May 2019 |title=Ahli Arab Hospital, Gaza City |url=https://afedj.org/institution/ahli-arab-hospital-gaza-city/ |access-date=17 October 2023 |website=American Friends of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem}}), usually called the Baptist Hospital for short ({{langx|ar| المستشفى المعمداني}}),{{cite web | url=https://www.aljazeera.net/encyclopedia/2023/10/18/%D8%B4%D9%87%D8%AF-%D8%A3%D9%83%D8%A8%D8%B1-%D9%85%D8%AC%D8%B2%D8%B1%D8%A9-%D8%A5%D8%B3%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%A6%D9%8A%D9%84%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%A8%D8%AA%D8%A7%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AE-%D8%BA%D8%B2%D8%A9 | title=المستشفى المعمداني في غزة.. أسسته الكنيسة وارتكبت فيه إسرائيل أكبر مجزرة | website=Al Jazeera | date=18 October 2023 | language=ar }}{{cite web | url=https://www.aljazeera.net/news/2023/10/19/%D9%85%D8%AC%D8%B2%D8%B1%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%B9%D9%85%D8%AF%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%8A-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%82%D8%B5%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%83%D8%A7%D9%85%D9%84%D8%A9-%D9%83%D9%85%D8%A7 | title=مجزرة المعمداني.. القصة الكاملة كما يرويها للجزيرة نت دكتور فضل نعيم أحد أطباء المستشفى | website=Al Jazeera | date=19 October 2023 | language=ar }} is a hospital in the Gaza Strip. Its headquarters are located in the Zeitoun neighborhood in the south of Gaza City, Palestine, and it is managed by the Episcopal Church in Jerusalem. Founded in 1882, it is one of the oldest hospitals in the city{{Cite news |last=Paulsen |first=David |date=16 October 2023 |title=Anglican hospital among facilities struggling to respond to growing humanitarian crisis in Gaza |url=https://www.episcopalnewsservice.org/2023/10/16/anglican-hospital-among-facilities-struggling-to-respond-to-growing-humanitarian-crisis-in-gaza/ |access-date=17 October 2023 |work=Episcopal News Service}}{{Cite news |title='Living stones' of Al Ahli Arab Hospital build a ministry of healing, witness in Gaza |url=https://www.episcopalnewsservice.org/2018/03/27/living-stones-of-al-ahli-arab-hospital-build-a-ministry-of-healing-witness-in-gaza/ |access-date=27 March 2018 |work=Episcopal News Service}} and the only Christian hospital in Gaza.{{Cite web |title=Al Ahli Hospital, Gaza |url=https://www.history.pcusa.org/blog/2024/04/al-ahli-hospital-gaza |access-date=2024-04-27 |website=Presbyterian Historical Society}}

History

The hospital has been in operation since 1882. It was established in what was then the Ottoman Empire as a medical mission of the Anglican Church's Church Missionary Society (CMS) following the Anglo-Egyptian War. In 1954, the hospital was purchased by the Foreign Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention, which renamed it the Gaza Baptist Hospital ({{langx|ar|المستشفى المعمداني}}). In the early 1980s, it was returned to the CMS, which turned it over to the Anglican Diocese of Jerusalem. The diocese changed the name of the hospital to Ahli Arab Hospital.{{Cite journal |last=Barnett |first=Carlton Carter III |title=Anglo-American Missionary Medicine in Gaza, 1882-1981 |url=https://repositories.lib.utexas.edu/bitstream/handle/2152/87222/BARNETTIII-THESIS-2021.pdf?sequence=1 |journal=Master's Thesis |location=University of Texas (Austin) |publication-date=May 2021 |pages=1-2, 97-98 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231019113120/https://repositories.lib.utexas.edu/bitstream/handle/2152/87222/BARNETTIII-THESIS-2021.pdf |archive-date=19 October 2023}}

The hospital is the only Christian hospital in the Gaza Strip{{Cite web |last=Ackerman|first=Andrew |date=17 October 2023 |title=What We Know About the Gaza Hospital Blast|url=https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/what-we-know-about-the-gaza-hospital-blast-b238a40d|url-access=subscription|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231018022743/https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/what-we-know-about-the-gaza-hospital-blast-b238a40d |archive-date=18 October 2023 |access-date= |website=The Wall Street Journal |language=}} and Gaza's only cancer hospital.{{cite web |last1=Gostoli |first1=Ylenia |title=Gaza's only cancer hospital could shut down amid Israel's war and siege |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2023/10/19/gazas-only-cancer-hospital-could-shut-down-amid-israels-war-and-siege |website=www.aljazeera.com |publisher=Al Jazeera English |access-date=26 October 2023 |language=en |archive-date=24 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231024165032/https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2023/10/19/gazas-only-cancer-hospital-could-shut-down-amid-israels-war-and-siege |url-status=live }} It normally handles around 300 surgeries and 600 radiological and a total of 3,000 outpatient visits per month.{{cite news|last1=Boorstein|first1=Michelle |last2=Brasch |first2=Ben |title=Gaza hospital where hundreds were killed is owned by Anglican Communion branch |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/10/17/israel-hamas-gaza-hospital-anglican-church/|newspaper=The Washington Post |date=October 17, 2023 |access-date=October 28, 2023 |archive-date=October 18, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231018013024/https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/10/17/israel-hamas-gaza-hospital-anglican-church/ |url-status=live}} It is supported by international charities such as Embrace the Middle East.{{Cite web |title=Embrace the Middle East's Work in Israel/Palestine |url=https://embraceme.org/palestine-israel |access-date=17 October 2023 |website=Embrace the Middle East}}

= 1948–1987 =

After the 1948 Arab–Israeli War and occupation of the Gaza Strip by Egypt, the American Baptist Foreign Mission Society operated the hospital. The Baptist society left in 1982, and an international alliance of donors that included Church World Service, DanChurchAid, and the Presbyterian Church (USA) interceded.

Al-Ahli had a urology department. In 1985, Al-Ahli commenced its dental and ophthalmology departments, and had a large burn unit. By June 1987, there were redevelopment funds secured from a German charity, which included support for a new building, as well as plans to lease hospital land to local developers for a shopping center to provide an additional funding stream. The hospital had five dunams of land and planned to allocate two of them to develop commercially, of which one fourth of the generated income would be used to construct a new multi-story hospital building.

= 1987–2005: First and Second Intifada =

The First Intifada transformed the hospital's daily operations during the Intifada's first year to "manage the increasing number of casualties". In 1996, in response to a series of bus bombings, Israel shut Gaza’s borders, which halted commercial and agricultural goods transport. The hospital's annual report said this also closed off transport of medicine and humanitarian aid. Al Ahli was appointed as a frontline hospital for casualties during the Second Intifada.

= 2023–2025: Gaza war =

== Rocket strike at Cancer Diagnostic Centre ==

According to the Anglican Communion News Service, at 7:30 p.m. EEST on 14 October 2023, the hospital's Diagnostic Cancer Treatment Centre was damaged by Israeli rockets, causing four hospital staff members to be injured and severely damaging two of its upper floors, with the mammography and ultrasound departments affected the most.{{Cite web |title=Gaza hospitals are 'facing catastrophe', says Archbishop of Canterbury |url=https://www.archbishopofcanterbury.org/news/news-and-statements/gaza-hospitals-are-facing-catastrophe-says-archbishop-canterbury |access-date=17 October 2023 |website=Archbishop of Canterbury}}

{{Cite web |title=Al Ahli Hospital Emergency Appeal |url=https://www.abmission.org/appeals/emergency-appeals/al-ahli-hospital-emergency-appeal/ |access-date=17 October 2023 |website=Abmission}}
{{Cite news |date=16 October 2023 |title=Anglican-run al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza damaged by Israeli rocket fire as war continues |work=Anglican Communion News Service |url=https://www.anglicannews.org/news/2023/10/anglican-run-al-ahli-arab-hospital-in-gaza-damaged-by-israeli-rocket-fire-as-conflict-continues.aspx |access-date=18 October 2023}}
{{Cite news |last=Paulsen |first=David |date=16 October 2023 |title=Anglican hospital among facilities struggling to respond to growing humanitarian crisis in Gaza |url=https://www.episcopalnewsservice.org/2023/10/16/anglican-hospital-among-facilities-struggling-to-respond-to-growing-humanitarian-crisis-in-gaza/ |access-date=27 October 2023 |work=Episcopal News Service}} The Israeli Defense Forces did not respond to BBC inquiries about this strike.{{Cite news |last1=Brown |first1=Paul |last2=Cheetham |first2=Joshua |last3=Seddon |first3=Sean |last4=Palumbo |first4=Daniele |date=18 October 2023 |title=What video, pictures and other evidence tell us about Gaza hospital blast |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-67144061 |access-date=27 October 2023 |work=BBC News}}

==17 October explosion==

== 2024 ==

As of February 2024, Al-Ahli Hospital was functioning at 30 per cent capacity and operated 100 per cent on solar power. The World Health Organization arrived at Al-Ahli in March 2024, bringing trauma supplies and fuel. In July 2024, the hospital was forcibly closed and evacuated, leading to condemnation by the Archbishop of Canterbury, who stated, "In the face of intense Israeli bombardment, this closure puts injured and sick people in even greater danger".{{cite web |last1=Davies |first1=Madeline |title=Archbishop Welby condemns closure of Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza, after Israeli warning |url=https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2024/12-july/news/world/welby-condemns-closure-of-al-ahli-hospital-in-gaza-after-israeli-warning |website=Church Times |access-date=20 July 2024}}

==2025==

On 13 April 2025, Israel bombed a part of the hospital, taking out its emergency department. The attack was conducted after patients were evacuated and there were no casualties reported.{{cite web|title= Israeli missiles strike Gaza hospital, patients evacuated|url= https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israeli-missiles-strike-gaza-hospital-patients-evacuated-2025-04-13/|website=Reuters|date=13 April 2025}} However, according to the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, one child died during the evacuation due to interruption of medical care.{{Cite web|url=https://pchrgaza.org/israel-bombs-gazas-baptist-hospital-putting-it-out-of-service-and-leaving-nearly-one-million-palestinians-with-no-lifesaving-healthcare-services/|title=Israel Bombs Gaza’s Baptist Hospital, Putting it Out of Service and Leaving Nearly One Million Palestinians with no Lifesaving Healthcare Services|access-date=13 April 2025|website=Palestinian Center for Human Rights}}